Search This Blog

Friday, October 26, 2012

26th of October 2012

Iris DeMent - Sing the Delta (2012)


The first song on Iris' first album "Let the Mystery Be" showed clearly her "credo", emerged from her Pentacostal background and her tight-knit family. True believers don't ask questions, they just follow. True believers are sometimes angry with their God, but they know how to forgive. True believers they spread love, first among the family, then to the outside world. True believers don't need proofs, they need comfort.  The cynical twenty first century shows no mercy for that kind of characters, they are last of their kind, misunderstood, underestimated and hopelessly dated. 





But even the coldest hipsters have their moments of reminiscing of childhood days when everything seem so easy and when they feel unconditionally loved and protected. Iris DeMent's new album (and all her previous albums) is ideal soundtrack for these moments.I can't recall any singer in any genre who dedicated more songs to his/her parents and home. On Sing the Delta there are at least four: title track, the opening Go Ahaed and Go Home, Makin' My Way Back Home and Mama Was Always Tellin' Her Truth. In fact, all her songs are, one way or another, about family idyll of her childhood at Arkansas Delta. Thanks to her high-lonesome trembling soprano, the mix of country, folk and blues leans towards country which may be repulsive to some people. On the contrary, it is very appealing to me. Appealing enough to be in my top 5 this year!